Governor replaces disgraced cabinet member

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today appointed a former senior adviser to replace his secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency who left the post in disgrace earlier this month.

Rosario Marin resigned after the Los Angeles Times reported she had received thousands of dollars in speaking fees from pharmaceutical companies near a time when her agency was pushing to reduce oversight on prescription drugs.

The governor announced that Fred Aguiar will take Marin’s former position, effective tomorrow. His appointment doesn’t require Senate confirmation and will give Aguiar an annual salary of $132,296.

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A Feb. 1, 2006 photo when Rosario Marin was sworn in by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as his secretary of State and Consumer Services Agency.

Aguiar is a familiar face within Schwarzenegger’s administration. He held the same job at the state consumer services agency between 2003 and 2005, then served as the governor’s cabinet secretary until 2007. That year, Schwarzenegger appointed Aguiar to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, a familiar landing spot for many former lawmakers and senior staffers.

Aguiar also spent time at the Capitol as an Assemblyman from 1992 to 1998 from San Bernardino County, where he also was on the county board of supervisors from 1998 to 2003.